As soon as you walk in, the tile floor gives way to a marble-encased wall of waterfalls. A room full of food sits behind them. You pay for the buffet and any drinks up front, then you’re led to your seat. There’s ample room for large parties, set back away from the buffet lines.

And then you go to town.

Typical Chinese buffets around Maryland might have one or two stations with two dozen dishes, but Teppanyaki goes overboard and has several hundred dishes. In addition to the usual Chinese staples, they’ve got a variety of Japanese and American dishes too. It’s typical buffet-quality as you would expect (some things are a little better than others), but there’s not much that isn’t offered here.

Various rice and noodle staples, check. Typical chicken and beef Americanized Chinese staples, check. Dumplings and egg rolls and spring rolls, all there. Pizza slices and seafood pasta and macaroni and cheese, check. Spiral cut ham. Salmon fillet. Chicken wings, plus a bacon-wrapped chicken dish that’s been cooked in butter. Crabs, clams, oysters, and shrimp, check, as well as some other shellfish that I didn’t recognize.

It continues.

They’ve got a crew of two making sushi rolls non-stop. I wouldn’t expect miracles from that department compared to the numerous options in Columbia and Annapolis, but it’s there. They’ve also got a passable hibachi grill station, with chicken, beef, shrimp, and all the usual vegetables you can load up on your plate. You don’t have all the sauce selections that you might at a Mongolian joint, but the grill man manages 8-10 plates at a time without mixing anything up.

Don’t forget dessert.

There is a fresh fruit and desert bar, complete with Oreo cookie ensemble, cheesecake, and red velvet cakes, as well a variety of pastries, brownies, pies, and cookies; don’t forget your pudding and tapioca. A large chocolate fountain sits to the side, pre-stocked with marshmallows and pineapple (although someone had the ingenious idea of dipping the aforementioned bacon/chicken contraption), located right next to the ice cream cart.

It was pretty crowded near the end of the lunch rush, but there was never an enormous line for anything. It’s organized, the mark of a well-run chain/franchise operation. The staff does a good job of monitoring the pans and replacing them when they get low. Table service was excellent, plates cleared and drinks refilled without having to ask.

Lunch runs $7 per person, Monday-Saturday 11am-3pm; $3.35 for kids 3-6, $5 for kids 7-10, free for kids under 2. Dinner prices are similarly tiered, running $11, $5, and $7 respectively. Military members get a 10% discount from the start. The local papers are publishing all sorts of $1-2 coupons, making it even cheaper to try out.

There’s something for everyone at Teppanyaki, and the price can’t be beat considering the diversity of food being offered.